Football Matchday Preview and Review

 There were no pre-match surprises for this game. Bayern was riding high on confidence and to a certain extent, Lyon, too, were the same. Unfortunately for Lyon, the odds were stacked against them. But it wasn't the first time in the competition that they were not favourites. In fact, all three Champions League games Lyon has played after the lockdown, they were expected to lose; they defied those odds every single time. Still, facing Bayern Munich and facing Manchester City - there's a big difference as to how both teams play and while Bayern has mostly been consistent, Manchester City hasn't. In the beginning, Lyon pressed. They pressed hard. And in the first 10 minutes, Lyon should have scored. It was only when Lyon hit the pole during an attack did Bayern realise that they will have to up their games. And they did. In the same move, Gnabry treated to all Bayern fans to a goal they had only seen legend Arjen Robben scored. In the 17th minute, Bayern was leading 1-0. Gnab...

There was an awful lot of speculation pre-game about the kind of starting 11 Pep Guardiola had laid out. Many claimed that he was simply "experimenting". If that was the case, someone ought to tell Pep that the Semi-Final of the Champions League was no place to experiment.  A brilliant overhead ball from all the way from the Lyon defence to striker Toko-Ekambi, who was unable to control the ball resulting it to fall within Maxwell Cornet's reach. He struck the ball well as all City goalie, Ederson could do was watch the ball go into his goal. Kevin de Bruyne is the only consistent City player and he showed his worth by equalising the game in the 69th minute from a good goal Unfortunately for Manchester City, Lyon goalkeeper, Lopes was on his best-ever performance and he denied City several opportunities. Substitute Moussa Dembele silenced his criticism by scoring in the 79th minute and putting Lyon back in the lead. At this stage, it was clear City were ready to go throug...